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Green should be more than a trend

Abigail Nichols | Monday, April 26, 2010

After our Earth Day celebration on April 22, it has become apparent that this University needs to change its technique in being “green.” On this campus, becoming green has become a fashion, a trend, a competition — not a chance for us to save our planet.

Those of us outside the biology department are never sufficiently educated in the actual science behind global warming, forestry or pollution. Consequently, it is difficult for a majority of us to take a serious stance against these issues. Being green has become a bandwagon trend for which people are excited to buy a T-shirt or hike over to Stonehenge on Earth Day.

If we are to truly make a difference in the way people act towards the environment we need to change the way in which they think about the environment. It must be a core conviction that people are able to hold, and not only during inter-dorm energy competitions or when friends stand next to each other while brushing their teeth with the water running.

I suggest that we, the students of Notre Dame, educate ourselves in the direct consequences of our wastefulness. In this way we will all become more genuinely concerned and aware of what an impact our day-to-day lives have on the health of humanity and the world.